This invention relates to a system for tracking the status and location of users of wireless devices and more particularly to a tracking system making use of the Internet and instant message (IM) technology.
Today, many users of wired devices, (such as personal computers or workstations) and wireless devices (such as, PDAS, pagers, cellular telephones, etc.) are connected to the Internet. In some systems, the location and/or availability of users of some devices is tracked by having each individual update his status and (possibly) physical location whenever his status and/or physical location changes. In these systems, when the user arrives at his station, he updates his current status by entering or selecting a status message. The wired or wireless device in turn transmits an IM buddy list status update message to an IM server. The IM server then transmits the buddy list status update messages to other wired devices on the system where the status update message is displayed. The status update message entered or selected might for example be xe2x80x9cavailablexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cat my desk.xe2x80x9d
Conventionally, when the status needs to be updated, the user enters a status change into the wired device indicating a new status, such as xe2x80x9cnot at my desk,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cout to lunch,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9con vacationxe2x80x9d or other status messages indicating the specific location where the user intends to go. The problem is that the user needs to remember to update the status, for example, every time the user leaves his desk or upon returning to his desk. Also, if the user indicates a location at which the user can be reached and then makes an unscheduled trip to another location at which he potentially can be reached, the new location will not be reflected in the buddy list status seen by the other users. The result is that often the status message is not updated when it should be and other users are given incorrect information about the current status and/or location of each other.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system, which will automatically update the status or location of the individual whenever it changes.